Lile caps off first week in majors with first game-winning RBI

SEATTLE – Daylen Lile came up to bat in the top of the 10th on Thursday night feeling some combination of frustration and exasperation. The Nationals’ rookie right fielder was 0-for-3 in the game, having twice failed to get down a called sacrifice bunt in the sixth inning and then having scorched a 110-mph liner directly to the first baseman with two outs and a runner on third in the seventh.

Now, here was Lile again at the plate in a big spot. The Nats and Mariners were tied 2-2 heading to extra innings, with teammate Jose Tena serving as the automatic runner and immediately advancing to third on Collin Snider’s first pitch wild pitch.

Lile knew the assignment in that situation, with the go-ahead runner 90 feet away.

“Just think about the team,” the 22-year-old said. “See the ball up. Get something into the outfield and make sure I’m doing my job, so the guy behind me can do his job.”

And what did Lile think when he launched the next pitch he saw from Snider deep to right field?

“I thought I hit it out at first,” he said with a wry smile. “But just to get a ball in the air and see the outfielder’s back turned … it’s just a good job on my part.”

Yes, it was. Lile’s 369-foot sacrifice fly – it would’ve been a homer in four major league ballparks, per Statcast – may not have cleared the fence, but it easily brought Tena home with the go-ahead run. And though the Nats would go on to score six more runs before the inning was over, the rookie’s sacrifice fly set the stage for everything that came after it and impressed everyone in the clubhouse.

“He’s very calm,” manager Davey Martinez said. “He plays the game the right way. He understands what he needs to do. He got the ball in the air to drive in the run. It was awesome.”

Lile had opportunities to do something big earlier in the game. He endured through the aforementioned botched bunt attempts, then the unlucky liner directly to the first baseman. When he came up to bat again in the 10th, he was the not-so-proud owner of a .176 batting average as a big leaguer (3-for-17), having yet to drive in a run since his promotion from Triple-A Rochester last week.

Martinez could have sent a more experienced hitter to the plate with the game on the line in extra innings. Nobody would have batted an eyelash had Amed Rosario or Alex Call pinch-hit for Lile.

But the manager trusted the kid to get the job done, and he was rewarded for that display of faith.

“I knew going up to that at-bat, Davey said he believed in me,” Lile said. “And I knew the guys behind me had a lot of faith in me. So I’ve just got to be a team player and do my job.”

Thus did Lile record the first RBI of his career. Maybe it didn’t come on a home run or an extra-base hit to the gap. But it did qualify as a game-winning RBI, not a bad bit of context for this momentous occasion.

“Awesome,” he said. “I didn’t think it was going to be like that, but obviously I’m just happy I did my job and did what I needed to do to keep the momentum going.”

Lile now has six games of major league experience under his belt. Summoned after only 18 games at Triple-A following injuries to both Jacob Young and Dylan Crews, the 2021 second round pick has been thrown to the wolves, starting six consecutive games to begin his career.

Along the way, Lile has recorded his first hit, his first double, made a game-ending diving catch in right field and now has driven in his first run at a most opportune moment.

What are impressions after one week in the bigs?

“It’s completely different from Triple-A,” he said. “The guys here, the way they go about their business, and seeing how the guys play up here, it’s a fast game. I’ve got to slow everything down to just help myself and help the team.”